This invention relates to a drum type washing machine wherein a drum accommodating clothes to be washed with wash liquid is rotated about its transverse axis for performing washing.
In conventional drum washing machines, a water-receiving tub is mounted in an outer cabinet and a drum having a number of apertures formed through its peripheral wall is mounted in the water-receiving tub so as to be rotated about its transverse axis. The drum is driven by an electric motor so that wash, rinse and dehydration steps are sequentially executed.
The drum is rotated about its transverse axis alternately in forward and reverse directions in the wash step. With rotation of the drum, the clothes therein are scooped and raised by the inner peripheral wall surface of the drum and then caused to fall down. Such an agitating movement as described above is repeated.
In the conventional drum type washing machine described above, however, a substantially uniform falling locus of the clothes in the drum is maintained during the wash step since the drum is usually rotated at a fixed speed. Consequently, a same agitating mode of the clothes is repeated, which increases the entwining of the clothes, preventing improvement of the washing effect and causing unevenness in cleanness of the washed clothes.